Marion County RECORD

A Monday discussion of conditions at the county park and lake erupted into shouts just two weeks after consultants from Wichita State University told county commissioners they needed to work on getting along better.
Kathy Schockley and Mark Wheeler, both residents at the lake, talked about the need for a professional management plan to end blue green algae problems.

Before embarking on a fun and educational visit to school classrooms Monday morning, Marion-Florence school board members quashed a once-fun but recently controversial practice of letting seniors paint their assigned parking spots.
Board member Chris Sprowls made the motion to discontinue the practice next year, which was seconded by Duane Kirkpatrick. Board president Nick Kraus and Doug Regnier joined them in passing the resolution.

While initial shipments of lumber were still days away, Morgan Wheeler was more than ready Sunday to welcome customers eager to see the inside of The Building Center, his new home improvement and construction supply business at 143 W. Main St. in Marion.
“It took a little longer than we thought it would,” Wheeler said. “We’re real excited. We’ve had quite a few people stop in to check out what’s going on.”

Ryan Olson was ready to hop in his car and head home Sunday evening when he came out of Zion Lutheran Church.
However, his dark blue 1989 Buick Regal, parked unlocked behind the church with the keys in it, was nowhere to be found.

Mercedes Love, 24, and her 4-year-old son, Christian, were asleep in the same bed early Thursday morning when something, she doesn’t know what, woke them.
They looked out the window and saw fireballs hitting the ground. She went into the living room and saw that the whole front of the house was on fire.

After nearly three years without a road trooper assigned to Marion County, Trooper Kenneth “Dean” Baldwin will soon be a familiar sight on the highways.
Baldwin graduated from the Kansas Highway Patrol Training Academy Dec. 7 and will spend his first 77 working days doing field training under two field training officers.

A county resident sent a bouquet of flowers to commissioner Dianne Novak after the pair disagreed on road gravel a week ago.
Soon after Monday’s meeting began, a bouquet was delivered to the county clerk’s office during an executive session. The flowers were brought to Novak when open session began again.

Visit any Swedish restaurant and you are likely to find potato sausage on the menu. And for folks who live in a Swedish community like the one at Burdick, the ethnic tradition is often on their dinner tables.
Dan Hageberg, head meat processor at Burdick Meat Market, said potato sausage is especially popular during the holidays. He combines ground beef and pork with onions, potatoes, and salt and pepper, then stuffs the mixture into casings.

Christmas will come a week early for area wrestling fans Friday at the Marion County Winter Duals, hosted by both Marion and Hillsboro High Schools.
Outside the Trojans and Warriors, 14 other teams from the central part of the state will be in action at both high school gymnasiums.

Marion trash and recycling customers will have to make some adjustments to accommodate a revised schedule for Christmas and New Years Day weeks.
With both holidays falling on Mondays, but with Dec. 25 and 26 off for Christmas and only Jan. 1 for New Year’s Day, pickups will be different each week, city administrator Roger Holter said.

Mary Jeffrey’s Christmas Village will be on display from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday at Valley United Methodist Church in Marion.
The display has been a tradition for several years running at the church, and this will be its final year on display.

A ribbon-cutting, dedication ceremony, and a packed-to-overflowing house for a Handel’s “Messiah” performance like none that have come before heralded the opening of the Shari Flaming Center for the Arts at Tabor College this weekend, but staff and students are equally excited about what comes next.
When the new arts center at Tabor College becomes fully functional next semester, students will have a place where they can meet as one to worship and be inspired in their spiritual lives.

“It will have to be digital.”
That’s what Tabor director of music Bradley Vogel told Burton Tidwell when he asked him to design an organ for the new Shari Flaming Center for the Arts.

Services for former carpenter Ernest Cecil Seibel, 98, who died Friday at Whitewater, will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at Peabody Christian Church. Visitation will be 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the church. Interment will be at Prairie Lawn Cemetery in Peabody.
Born April 13, 1919, to John and Nellie (Hintz) Seibel in Peabody, he married Maxine Atkins on Nov. 19, 1950, in Peabody. She preceded him in death.

A celebration in memory of Connie J. (Powell) Wells, 81, formerly of Marion, who died Nov. 28 at The Cedars in McPherson, will be from 1 to 3 p.m. Dec. 23 at The Cedars House, 803 N. Maxwell St., McPherson.
She is survived by sons Robert Powell of Plant City, Florida, and Matthew Powell; daughter, Hollie Fox of Omaha, Nebraska; daughter Tracy Forsberg of McPherson; 10 grandchildren; and 15 great-grandchildren.

Private family services for Geneva Wiselogel, 89, who died Saturday at The Cedars in McPherson, will be held at a later date in Parma, Michigan.
She was born July 18, 1928, to Earl and Lillian (Meisner) Kellogg in Marshall, Michigan. She married Archie Wiselogel on Sept. 7, 1946, in Parma, Michigan. He preceded her in death.

Is anyone really surprised to learn that Marion-Florence school board voted Monday to end the practice of senior-painted parking spaces at the high school?
I’m not, not after the resounding silence from the board in the immediate aftermath of an LGBT rainbow flag appearing in a student’s parking spot that was met with vandalism and outrage among some.

In this week’s Hillsboro police incident report that we received by fax, there was one particularly interesting item, that of a car theft from a church parking lot.
We picked up the phone and placed a call to chief Dan Kinning, but the woman who answered said he wasn’t available. She offered to contact assistant chief Jessey Hiebert to have him call us back, which he did minutes later. He was out on patrol, but offered to drive back to the station to review the offense report, the front page of which is an open public record.

ANOTHER DAY IN THE COUNTRY:

LETTERS:

Jami Mayfield of Marion has been collecting nativity scenes for more than 30 years.
Ever since her three now-grown children were little, they have had their own nativity. Mayfield would hide the baby Jesus from each set late on Christmas Eve, and before the children could open their presents Christmas Day morning, each had to find the baby Jesus and return it to its place.

A timeless Christmas classic reenactment of the birth of Jesus was presented Sunday by children of the Christian Church and Good News Christian Fellowship.
As Joseph and Mary were in a Bethlehem stable where they lodged because they could find no other place to stay, animals portrayed by children in costumes gazed at the baby.

Deadlines for three Hoch Publications holiday contests are drawing near.
The deadline for a children’s coloring contest has been extended to Monday. Children 3 to 10 can win a three-foot stocking filled full of goodies by coloring a picture printed in the Nov. 22 edition.

Members of the Neo Century Club celebrated Christmas Dec. 4 with a catered meal and music.
Anita Hancock entertained club members after the meal with traditional Christmas carols played on a harpsicle.

SENIOR CENTER:

MEMORIES:

Christmases come and Christmases go, old traditions transition into new traditions, but no matter how old you get, certain memories of Christmas linger.
You can’t call Marion Ogden’s memory of his childhood Christmases “good” exactly, but it’s good for a Christmas story laugh.

Centre school board approved $125,000 for advertising the district’s Kansas Online Learning Program at its Monday meeting.
The board approved a $120 holiday bonus for all staff and Rule 10 coaches.

Directors of Technology Excellence in Education, a partnership of area school districts overseeing distance education, will meet by telephone conference at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 30.
Under state law, all such meetings are open to the public, and provision must be made for the public to listen to deliberations.

Centre won pool play and placed fourth in the championship round at a Scholars Bowl invitational tournament Monday at Council Grove.
Centre won matches against Chapman, Chase County, Flint Hills Christian, Hillsboro, Lyndon, and Santa Fe in pool play before losing to Chapman, Wabaunsee, and Wamego in the championship round.

The “shot of the tournament,” as one fan described it, gave Centre boys their first victory of the season Friday against Lebo in the Herington pre-season tournament.
It happened at the end of the first half. Centre got the ball with just seconds remaining and headed to the other end. Cole Srajer was at the back end of the center circle when he threw up a long shot and the ball swished through the net as the buzzer sounded, eliciting a loud gasp from spectators. The Cougars trailed by one point, 23-22.

Three-game home stands in the Marion Classic basketball tournament revealed positive developments and room for improvement for both boys’ and girls’ teams.
The Lady Warriors had the better time of it, offsetting a 42-35 loss to Remington with wins over Wichita Homeschool, 41-26, and Eureka, 41-27, to place third.

Members of the public will be welcome to speak at the start of the Harvey-Marion County Community Development Disability Organization’s monthly meeting at 4 p.m. Monday at 500 N. Main St., Newton.

Historic Elgin Hotel will sponsor a Christmas cookie swap at 7 p.m. Thursday at the hotel.
In exchange for $10 and three dozen cookies, participants will be able to take home three or four platters of cookies selected from those provided.